Improved fastening for shoes



0. BU'RGHARDT. FASTENING FOR SHOES.

Patented Sept. l2

Illllllllllllllll of my invention.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL BUROHARDT, on NEW YORK, n. Y.

IMPROVED FASTENING FOR SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 19,854, dated September 12, 1865.

useful Improvements in Fastenings for Shoes and for other situations where strings are employed; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure l is a perspective view of a boot fast ened according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view of the clasp which forms avital part It is on a considerably en larged scale. Fig. 25 is a section on the line 0 D in Fig. 2. Fig. 4. is a section on the line A B in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 represents the edge of the part which is movable. This edge is repre sented roughened so as to afford a better hold on the string or cord or tape or analogous flexible part which is to be secured by the clasp. Figs. 6 and 7 show another form of my clasp adapted to hold two cords. Fig. 6 is a face View, and Fig. 7 a section on the line E F.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Tints are employed to aid in distinguishing parts, and do not imply dili'erences of material.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, 1 will proceed to describe its construction and operation by the aid of the drawings and of the letter of reference indicated thereon.

H is the boot, and I the lacing or string, attached at its front end to the leather by any convenient means.

J J, 81-0., are'round or spherical headed buttons set zigzag on opposite sides of the slit or opening, and the lacing I is passed around or in contact with the outside of the eye of each, as indicated in Fig. 1,- and finally pressed into the clasp K L M N. In this clasp it may be tightened by pulling on its free end, and the operation of the clasp will retain all that is thus pulled through, and hold it securely as long as desired.

1 attach much importance to the clasp, the parts of which are designated above, and will particularly describe these parts and also the main back or foundation for the clasp.

K and L are fixed parts, and M is a moving part adapted to slide on L in a line slightly inclined to the working-face of the part K. Both K and L are fixed firmly upon the plate N, bein g composed in part from the same piece of material, which may be rolled brass properly annealed and bent. The. ends of the plate N are allowed to project, and are provided with holes at a, by the aid of which the entire clasp may be fixed upon the "shoe by rivets .or the like. The moving part M is bent partly around the part L, and is free to move longitudinally thereon, but can move in no other path. The lower edge of the part M isroughened, The upper face of the part K may be similarly prepared. The shoe-lacin g I is easily slipped sidewise into the tapering space between the upper face of K and the lower face of M by a move ment of the hand in which it is held. It is then drawn tightly by a pull, and on beingreleased it drags the movable piece M to the left, as seen in the figure, and, by reason of the inclination of its path to the upper face of K, this movement causes the lacing to be tightly compressed and confined between. itself and K. When it is desired to release the lacing it is again pulled, so as to move the piece M to the right, (in the fi'gure,) which liberates it, and it is then by an obvious movement of the hand carried bodily outward so as to be out of contact with either K or M.

The buttons J, being spherical, do not catch in or destroy clothing, and the eyes allow the lacing to render or move freely around them, so that the pull on the end of the cord or lacing l contracts the width of the whole opening or slit. If the lacing gets displaced it is very readily slipped again over the heads of the buttons.

Hooks with rounded. heads may be used in lieu of the buttons. I consider such substantiallyequivalent therefor, it being the main peculiarity of this feature of my invention that the head or top shall be smooth and swelled, approximating so much to a spherical form as to prevent all danger of accident to dress.

I can use two lacings, or can secure two ends of the same lacing by employing the double form of my clasp shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

My clasp difiers from buckles and other devices of analogous nature known to me in the fact that it requires little lateral dimensions relative to the cord, and allows the cord orlacing to be readily taken out and put in by movement; and my clasp, in combination with my round-headed buttons J and cord'I, arranged as specified on a shoe, possesses 1narked advantages in facility for very rapid and convenient adjustment and safety and durability of all the parts. q I

I designate the slit or-opening in. the boot or shoe by the letter P. a

The mode of retaining the cord as described above can be applied with advantage for other purposes wherever itis required to lock up or retain or stop a cord-or band or chain or any other flexible fastening-as, for example in chain-lockers for anchor-chains or clasps for securingflat straps of leather or other materials. v

I do not claim the spherical heads J of the buttons or hooks, around which the cord I is passed to draw together the parts ofthe shoe,

except in combination with a retaining-clasp v to confine and secure the end of the cord without tying, as specified.

Having now fully described my invention,

what I claim as new therein, and desire-to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows: 1. The slide M, way L, and surface K, ar-

ranged close to the line'of the cord I, or its equivalent, to be-retainedsubstantially as and for the purpose hereinset forth.

2. The heads J or equivalent eyes, cord-I,

and retaining-clasp M K, arranged relatively D. W. STETSON. 

